The hotel was a disappointment, although not the country nor the people. They have serious issues with communication--they prevented us from leaving the hotel in our rental car even though we showed them the papers and did not adequately explain afterwards. The food is NOT 4 star level, but basic Central American cafeteria, i.e. rice and beans. On the good side, the grounds are immaculate and the staff are friendly, but they don't speak English. The entertainment is only in Spanish. Loud music at the pool ALL DAY and disco loud until 2am. All clients need to know these issues before they think they are booking a 4 star. 2.5 star or at best.

The grounds were amazing, everything was incredibly clean. Loved the beach and pools. Nothing was a disappointment! The staff was second to none. I can not find a single thing to complain about. A friend recommended your Resort, so happy we listened.

My 4 teenage kids and I loved this resort. It was clean and very will kept. Loved the pools and the staff were always kind, even of they didn't speak English, we always managed. Overall a great experience! Pura Vida!!!

I like the grounds. The room was clean but had a musty smell. The bathroom needs to be renovated. The staff was nice but some didn’t speak English and it was difficult to communicate with them. The food was good, but could use more seasoning.

The grounds are nice and kept clean. The room was dirty when we checked in (stained sheets and pillows, dirty coffee maker, hair on the shower head etc). The bathroom is in disrepair and has mold. Some staff were pleasant while others were rude. Most of the staff don’t speak English which was somewhat annoying but not unbearable. The food left a lot to be desired as most of it was bland. The buffet isn’t the cleanest as various animals like birds and squirrels will attempt to eat from your plate or even the hot tray. The a la carte restaurants are a bit better than the buffet but with long wait times for bland food, it’s hard to enjoy.

The resort was very clean, so were the rooms. The resort was very child friendly, food was pretty good. Service was pretty good in the restaurants and at the bars. The nighttime entertainment was alright.. 8pm til 9pm was a children's program. The info on day trips and help was ok.. unfortunately the resort is far away from the rainforest, volcanoes and a long ride from the airport. But it is overall a very nice place.

The outside and grounds were beautiful. Inside rooms need some housekeeping. The 4 hours on a bus after a 5 hour air was a bit much on terrible roads. Front staff are much to be desired. Stupid, ignorant an rude. First impression and first people you meet should be adult and professional. I would go back to Costa Rica, but not that resort.

Disappointed at the female front desk staff.No welcome, made no eye contact and never spoke to anyone. When they were asked where our room were located they just pointed. When we checked out it was the same, never spoke, no goodbye or how was your stay Hope to see you again, nothing The bar tenders were all eager to serve, smile on their faces. The housekeeping staff were friendly. There was a wide variety of food at the buffet and was good. The resort was clean, well groomed lawns. My favourite was each morning was watching the parrots, listening to the hollering monkeys The massages that I had were amazing by each lady, excellent top notch service Also, the gentleman that booked our excursion was amazing, friendly and knowledgeable.

I've never written a review but thought it was important to share. The trip from the airport was a 4 hour drive through extreme winding roads. I spoke with other guests and everyone complained about the drive. We booked a half hour flight from close by airport back to international Airport to avoid this drive again. $150 per ticket. The resort was exceptionally nice. Pool are was very comfortable and clean. The downfall was the bars. Minimum bars and bartenders. 20 minute line up everytime you wanted a drink. Under staffed but bartenders worked non stop trying to keep up with demand. Food was not good at all. Same thing every day. Buffet was large but exact same food every day. The "speciality" restaurants were fair at best. I guess they thing anything will taste good when you've been eating the same food day after day. We found out our last day that they didn't offer bacon for breakfast except in the "premium" speciality room. After paying over 2000 dollars per ticket bacon for breakfast should not be for premium guests only. Ridiculous. Brought new bottle of sunscreen . We ran out so went to gift shop. They were asking 72 dollars for small bottle. We took a cab to store and bought 3 times larger bottle for 24 dollars. Evenings. It was absolutely ridiculous. The pool closes at 7:00pm. Table tennis and mini golf, closes and ANY resort activity closes at 4:00pm. They have a nightly show on stage with dancers. They were entertaining for the first night or two but it got old after that. So after dinner there was no swimming, no entertainment and minimum bar service. The place has soooo much potential but with the drive to get there, the weak food and the lack of things to do, I would not go back as it's not worth it. I've been to Barcelo in Rivera Myan in Mexico. I would go there in a heart beat rather than return to Barcelo Costa Rica. Very disappointing. February 15-22 2024

The resort and view is breathtaking. The rooms are just okay. We actually had no firm alarm or working safe. Despite asking for both! No water in fridge either. The service and food is horrible. The steakhouse served steak that didn’t taste like steak. So much so that my son asked if it was a “dog”. Yikes! No gluten free alternatives. No dairy alternatives. No pool side waiters. Someone threw up in the pool on Saturday- they just roped off that section of the pool! The grounds are very well maintained, but that’s about it! Oh forgot to Mention our sheets had dirt on them! We arrived to dirty sheets and pillow covers! What’s more the travel agent,’Jenn, told us it was a 90 minute bus ride. It’s not 90. Try 5 hours. We lost the entire day and no dinner. Called ahead to the resort to get some sandwiches and salad in our room. While on that call the hotel informed us we only had 3 days booked and not 5! We absolutely panicked and emailed Jenn. Data and roaming charges incurred on both our phones. Get to the resort and “so sorry for the miscommunication but yea you have 5 nights”. got there after 10pm and no food. Finally at midnight we got sandwiches with bread, ham and processed cheese. Gross. I actually couldn’t eat any of it. The kids just wanted to sleep. This hotel needs to step up their game big time. Costa Rica is not Cuba but you wouldn’t know it from the food. What a waste of such a gem of a view. The package should come with a small charter flight from Liberia. Because 5 hours is NOT okay! You can go to Italy full flight in less time than it took us.

It was beautiful,I had a great view from my balcony facing the ocean. The food was good. Really liked the Steak house and the Italian restaurant. The only thing I didn't like it was a four drive from the airport. And where you check in they couldn't really understand English. So it made it hard to talk to them.

-grounds were luscious and green, extremely clean in all areas, including public areas -beach was lengthly and very quiet, but needed water shoes at top to walk on rocks, then very sandy once in the water -buffet was very nice, fresh, and plenty of variety -only 2 a la carte restaurants, but both were very good quality and service, however having to stand in line every morning the day of reservation was very annoying -very surprised at the amount of locals permitted on the resort, and seemed to dominate the service, if you don’t speak Spanish, you were not paid any attention while the locals were present -the entertainment was not very engaging, as it only catered to local Spanish speaking audiences, no translation - the pool had to be closed on 3 occasions due to contamination due to rowdy locals(vomit) -stay was very relaxing, but not much to do unless went on excursions - great wildlife, iguanas, monkeys, macaws

This resort has gone down hill for international travellers. It caters to locals and therefore others are ignored. The grounds are beautiful but the and service was less than exceptable. The food was ok but the same thing different day

The hotel and setting, is amazing. The staff shows preferential treatment to those who speak fluent Spanish. Short staff for weekend vacationers. Transat customers were shortchanged on items that were promised, at booking, and ignored when asked about these items. Transit rep was only there 1 full and 2 half days, during our 11 day stay. We weren't advised about the time and distance to get to and from the resort. Very arduous journey.

The resort was beautiful, clean, amazing grounds. So much wildlife to see monkeys, birds beautiful red Mccaws,iguanas, most amazing sunrise.The pool was very nice. The travel to resort was much longer than was said because of road construction was disappointed cause our departure was so early for a later flight due to road closures... feel we missed out on a days vacation due to the travel of the resort when we were told 2hr drive not 4hrs. Beautiful resort Ceaser the bar tender and Nino from the buffet amazing customer service, always had smiles. The fact that it catered to locals would not return they would bud in line found very rude.

After a long 4 hr drive to this resort as I was lead to believe that it was a 11/2 . Than our holiday was to begin the buffets were always fresh and interesting when returning to our rm the key didn't work and this happened for three days and on the fourth day we waited outside the rm sitting on the floor waiting to get in our rm it was 45 mins later when a worker showed up to let us in. Also when we booked our trip I didn't know that the costa rica christmas holiday was during our holiday as the resort was filled with many local people enjoying there last week of break with their children .I was amazed at how rude many of these people were to visitors in there country and the lack of respect to the proptery of the resort. On our last day check out day we had to leave the resort at 7 am as the road to the airport was under construction and was going to be closed for 2 hrs our flight wasn't until 4pm it was a long day waiting at a airport .

I have to say that the views and the country were spectacular! Our family enjoyed the scuba diving and beach lunch. However since we were not provided an itinerary we had no idea how long the travel would actually be, it was long! The way there not so bad as we stayed in SAN Jose the first night. But the way back was terrible! We timed it and it took 20 hours from the time we left the hotel until we arrived home! We had to wait in the San Jose airport for iver 5 hours because we were paired with a group from Montreal who’s flight left earlier, if we would have known this we would have never done this! Not to mention, this is not a 7 day all in trip, because we had to pay for our food on the first day, which was fine we had expected this, but the last day also, we stopped at a cafe that we had to pay for then we had no choice but to sit in an airport all day and eat there. In future if you are to offer this trip, there needs to be a better explanation of what will transpire! We were not the only family who felt this way! We spoke to 2 other families who felt the same and I am hopeful they will also provide their feedback. We had used air transit in the past and plan on doing more travelling in the future but We may look at other travel agencies as we were quit disappointed. Also we had to change rooms since the first room we were in had a broken door, no lock and no working phone. We asked for an extra blanket and towel and it took them 4 hours and 3 times asking before they finally provided it to us.

Very remote but clean, beautifully landscaped resort. Food fair, repetitive, but best fresh fruit ever! Beach good for long walks. Majority of guests Costa Rican, EVERYTHING in Spanish, only English speaking at reception and customer relations! No Air Canada rep at resort for info. Have to find everything out yourself! Approx. 4 hour trip from airport , construction through mountains scary, drop offs, only yellow and orange tape markings,narrow winding gravel road, hairpin turns, for 20-30 km of it and driver going fast! Clouds of dust from large trucks made for poor visibility at times! Stressed on arrival and AC rep contacted twice via phone refused to give another option for departure! Cannot recommend land trip until road finished, unless come by ferry, as most Air Transat guests. Lonely, too, if social, as only a very small number of English speaking guests. Kudos to the 2 Customer Relations guys for their support and calls to AC rep. This is apparently common for them with Canadians arriving at resort by land from the airport and they agree with our concerns! Even an Air Canada pilot at resort on vacation was refusing to travel back on land with his family. Left before we knew his outcome!

The resort was very clean, the rooms cleaned daily and the mini bar refilled. The food was AWFUL.If you like rice with beans or plain rice go to this resort. Every meal was very bland, WE ATE OFF OF THE KIDS BUFFET. We asked for fresh fish for lunch one day and received a processed white fish you would get out of the freezer section at your local grocery store.At the AL-a-cart restaurant we had a hard time making our self's understood because most of the staff could NOT speak English.We would not go back to this resort, it is not a 4 star resort, we would rate it at maybe a 3.

Our vacation was pretty much perfect. Nothing but sunshine and blue sky. Resort was beautiful. The staff were friendly and helpful. The food was fresh and delicious. Lots of birds and other wildlife around. Very natural setting. Not commercialized like so many other places we have been to. It is a long trip to get there though if you go by bus and ferry. I would recommend to go by small air plane from San Jose to the resort. It is only a 30 minute ride compared to 5 hours by ferry. I would go home by ferry though because you do get to see a lot of the country and stop to shop in a small town on the way back. But either way it is a great place to vacation.

Well where do I start. This was the first time we have traveled to Costa Rica and It wont be the last. After a 5 hr plane ride to San Jose We were greeted by Nolitours and off to the Ferry at Puntarenas. Great scenery and lots of hills. The ferry ride was more than an hour but beautiful view of the gulf of Nicoya. Wish we had the option of flying direct to Tambor and save more time to enjoy the Resort. Arrived at Paquera and off to Barecleo Tambor. Arrived and had no problem booking in to our room as there was only 4 of us that was on the mini bus.The grounds are magnificent and well taken care off. The Iguanas, squirrels, and doves kept busy looking for hand outs but didn't bother us at all. The scarlet Macaws flying over head and in the bird sanctuary were breath taking to see and its good to see the re introducing of endangered animals back into the wild. The parrots greeted us with Ohla. The howler monkeys religiously arrived around 5 pm to bask in the shade and cool off. What a hair raising sound they make!! The pool was clean and warm and enjoyed every minute. The pool activities helped wear off some of the drinks. The weather was nothing but perfect as we had 7 days of full sunshine and no clouds. Couldn't ask for better. The bartenders especially Kaylor in the main bar beside the stage was so amazing in making us feel like a close friends. I told him how to make a peralyser drink and he liked it. He should be recognized for his efforts as he works so hard at what he does. The bingo they had before the main entertainment was hard to follow. I know that Spanish is you main language, but it would have been nice to understand the jokes as we felt out of place. We laughed anyways. The food in the buffet was excellent and always a variety for everyone. The only draw back was at the steak house. My wife asked for here steak to be well done and it came between medium rare to medium. The ceaser salad was supper salty and the portions of veggies were small. The beach was fabulous and took a walk at low tide to Tambor, a small village at the west end of the beach. We purchased some liquor and as we were heading out of the local grocery store the worker came out and gave us a a small bottle of the local Costa Rican 5 year old rum as a gift. That made our trip even more unbelievable. At night the stars were so bright and felt like you could reach out and grasp them. The security was present all the time and we felt very safe at all times. Went to Tortuga Island snorkeling and had a blast. Saw tons of fish and lots of crabs running along the white sand beach. The bbq was excellent and the beers were cold. Went to the Curu wildlife reserve and Douglas our guide was awsome and we would recommend him as a guide as he new so much as if you went by your self you would enjoy it as much. We learned many things about the animals and foliage of Costa Rica. About 10 white faced capuchin mokeys gave us a show and were almost at touching distance. The pictures were amazing. Saw local deer, butter flies, rodents, and herons. This trip was the most memorable one we have taken and plan on going back to this resort as its a resort away from the big cities and we felt soooo relaxed. The only thing is that we wished that Nolitours gave us the option of the plane ride not the Ferry to bet us back to San Jose airport as getting up at 3 a.m. and the ferry ride at 5:30 a.m. then the long ride to the airport used up to many days of enjoying the resort. Didn't get home till 1:00 a.m. the next morning and made for a long long day. Thanks again for a wonderful experiance Barcelo Tamabor Beach Resort.